Microcystin-YR

• Potent inhibitor of PP1 and PP2A
• Useful reference for environmental analyses
• Cited in several water quality-related research articles

Microcystin-YR (MC-YR) is an analog of microcystin-LR (Prod. No. ALX-350-012) with Tyr substituted in place of Leu. As for all microcystins, the conjugated double bonds in the Adda moiety cause a characteristic absorption maximum at 238nm. The Tyr residue in position 2 of microcystin-YR confers an absorption maximum at 232nm. MC-YR is a potent inhibitor of eukaryotic protein phosphatases 1 and 2A and a useful reference compound for environmental analysis. The hydroxyl group of the Tyr residue may prove useful for linking MC-YR via conjugation to other chemicals. MC-YR inhibits the synthesis of proteases such as cathepsin D and L, and arginine aminopeptidase.

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Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes mostly present in freshwater ecosystems. The increasingly frequent appearance of cyanobacteria blooms in lakes and rivers is linked to climate changes and human activities. Microcystins are a group of cyclic heptapeptide hepatotoxins produced by a number of cyanobacterial genera. The most notable of which, and namesake, is the widespread genus Microcystis. Structurally, all microcystins consist of the generalized structure cyclo(-D-Ala¹-X²-D-MeAsp³-Y⁴-Adda⁵-D-Glu⁶-Mdha⁷-). X and Y are variable L-amino acids, D-MeAsp is D-erythro-β-methylaspartic acid and Mdha is N-methyldehydroalanine. Adda is the cyanobacteria unique C₂₀ β-amino acid 3-amino-9-methoxy-2,6,8-trimethyl-10-phenyl-deca-4,6-dienoic acid. Substitutions of the variable L-amino acids at positions 2 and 4 give rise to at least 21 known primary microcystin analogs and alterations in the other constituent amino acids result in more than 90 reported mycrocystins to date.